History Main / PowerUpLetdown

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder'': Wall-Climb Jump badge certainly sounds cool, acting as a homage to the wall-climb glitch in the original NES game by making the player jump vertically up a wall before instigating a proper wall jump. However, not only are there few scenarios outside the badge's dedicated challenge levels where you'd want to do a wall-climb over immediately wall jumping, but it is completely invalidated in those scant instances by two other badges: the Parachute Cap and the Grappling Vine, as both allow the player to indefinitely ascend any vertical surface by repeatedly wall-jumping off and gliding/grappling back onto it. This is on top of other badges, such as the Boosting Spin Jump, that can grant the user greater verticality when they aren't near a wall.

*** The cannon launcher acts like a slower acting Fire Flower that fires straight and you can't stop it from continiously firing unless you hold the dash button to charge it up. It can also cause friendly fire damage to other players, something that no other power-up ever does. The only times you ever want the cannon power-up is to break certain walls that contain green stars.

* The Super Powers in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' range from GameBreaker (the Fruit Bazooka) to "the Time Trials are actually possible now" (the Crash Dash) to "incredibly useful" (the DoubleJump and Death Tornado Spin) to "am I doing it right? I don't think it's working" (the Super Charged Body Slam). What this "upgrade" to your body slam does is increase the range of its shock wave by around one box width, but this is something that will be useful in the game exactly ''one time'', the bonus stage of Dino Might, and in a scenario tailor-made to specifically require it. Its only other "use" is it's possible with ''very'' careful positioning to use the shockwave to detonate Nitro crates without taking a hit, which should be handy but there's just simply never a scenario where this is actually necessary or useful when you can just jump over or walk around said crate. You'll otherwise forget you even have it (it's rather telling that said bonus stage has an icon in the background ''reminding you the power-up even exists''), and it's such a non-upgrade that the [[VideoGameRemake N. Sane Trilogy]] just up and lets you start the game with it.
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex'' introduces tiptoeing as a skill awarded for beating the first boss. This allows you to walk on suspended Nitro Crates which otherwise blow on contact. However, the main paths in levels never ever require you to use this, and for gem paths and Death Routes it's easier to wait until you can use the Double Jump and Death Tornado Spin combo to glide over the boxes, so many players will fully complete the game without using this power even once beyond plain curiosity.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' Has Triple Foul, the final ability in Wakka's section of the Sphere Grid. It inflicts sleep, silence and blindness at the same time. Sounds great, but by the point you get it, you'll probably be nearing TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, where most enemies have either resistances or outright immunities to the relevant statuses. Even in situations where enemies have neither, you really only need one of the three statuses to kneecap an enemy until they're dead, making this a bit pricey and rather redundant, especially compared to the other end abilities, namely Entrust, Bribe, and especially [[GameBreaker Quick Hit.]]

** And then there is Ultima in DS version that can be generated by Twincast of Cecil and Rosa. So whad do you think, it is worth it to use spell that costs ''twice as much MP as Meteor'' (99MP of both Cecil ''and'' Rosa), takes longer to cast and robs you of both healers in the team when Meteor was already enough to hit the damage cap? Made worse by the fact that at least on first playthrough giving Twincast Augments to Rosa and Cecil means robbing yourself of much more useful spells such as party-wide attack buff or double HP.

* In addition to a ''lot'' of {{Joke Item}}s in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', it also has a couple of these:

** Unlike most specs, the DualWielding fury warriors could pick from one of two 'ultimate' talents at the end of their talent tree. One let them simultaneously wield a two-handed weapon in each hand (with two-handed weapons doing more damage than one-handed ones), whilst the other gave a boost to damage when wielding a single-handed weapon in both hands. Even ignoring the badass factor of having a {{BFS}} x 2, the one-handed talent was useless. If in any doubt the player could search online and find that the [=WoWPedia=] entry for the 1H talent was blank whilst the entry for the 2H talent consisted of a mathematical proof of why it was better.

** Blur Artifacts in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/DoomII'' and ''VideoGame/Doom64'', when facing projectile shooting enemies. They make you harder to see, with the effect that monsters have a very poor aim when trying to shoot you. The problem is that most players will instinctively sidestep as soon as they see their attack animation, and are more likely to dodge into a stray projectile than get hit by a projectile aimed straight at them. Fortunately, not all is lost; against {{hitscan}} enemies, the partial invisibility significantly reduces their accuracy, rendering them far more manageable when fought in groups.

** The Super Mushroom can also be a nuisance in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'', since if you get it as Fire MArio or Bunny Mario, it drops you back down to Super Mario.

Sometimes this is just situational. Ice skates may work well on rinks, but throwing them at the player during the spy mission to make them lose their wall crawling boots means they still qualify. For hazards disguised as useful power ups, see PoisonMushroom. Compare JokeItem and ScrappyWeapon, both of which can overlap with this trope. Contrast NerfArm, which is the opposite of this trope (it only ''looks'' like a Joke Item, but its stats are perfectly fine). Also see LethalJokeItem (a Joke Item that is surprisingly powerful through fulfilling hidden conditions or exploiting game mechanics), which can also overlap with this trope. See also {{Zonk}}, where the player is given a "prize" that isn't worth anything.

** And of course there's the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that had two separate defects, a design flaw that could short the battery terminals and a welding defect that pressed too much on the battery. Anyone unfortunate enough to have upgraded to the first release of these phones were at real risk of having the thing spontaneously blow up in their pocket. Numerous injuries, a worldwide ban on air crafts, and an investigation likely to cost Samsung ''billions'' later, this was one hell of a letdown for users and the company alike.

** Gold tools provide some perks to be sure by working fast and getting better enchantments, but they have such poor durability that they're just not worth using in favor of the more BoringButPractical iron or diamond gear. While you can get an easily reliable source of gold from the Nether, this is too dangerous and time-consuming to be wasted on gold gear: if you're going to spend that much time faffing about in the Nether it could be far better, and far more safely, spend deep in the Netherrack digging Ancient Debris to craft Netherrite gear.

* The DS version of ''Science Papa'' has the first upgrade for the mortar and pestle, which is a machine which is automated, rather than the first mortar and pestle which requires you to break things up manually. Despite being an upgrade, it loses out to the default for two reasons; it doesn't ''stop'' automatically even though it processes independent of you, which can cause you to get a worse rating on the task, and it's possible to finish the base mortar's minigame in about three seconds, when the first upgrade can take 15 to 20 seconds for the same work. That said, the second upgrade, the "Jaws" Mortar, is much more effective as it also works automatically but will also automatically stop processing at a perfect rating without you needing to turn it off, leaving you free to do other tasks without the risk of ruining the mortar's work. Even though you do have a reliable and renewable source of gold in the form of farming zombified piglins,

** PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/KamenRiderDecade''. The titular character is able to turn into all Kamen Riders from past shows, with the caveat that he has to unlock them first. After unlocking ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'', he tries to use it against [[Series/KamenRiderKabuto Kamen Rider TheBee and Gattack]], but discovers the form only spouts its associated CatchPhrase, rather than actually being useful in combat.

** That said, gold tools. They provide some perks to be sure by working fast and getting better enchantments, but they have such poor durability that they're just not worth using in favor of the more BoringButPractical iron or diamond gear. While you can get an easily reliable source of gold from the Nether, this is too dangerous and time-consuming to be wasted on gold gear: if you're going to spend that much time faffing about in the Nether it could be far better, and far more safely, spend deep in the Netherrack digging Ancient Debris to craft Netherrite gear.

* The DS version of ''Science Papa'' has the first upgrade for the mortar and pestle, which is a machine which is automated, rather than the first mortar and pestle which requires you to break things up manually. Despite being an upgrade, it loses out to the default for two reasons; it doesn't ''stop'' automatically even though it processes independent of you, which can cause you to get a worse rating on the task, and it's possible to finish the base mortar's minigame in about three seconds, when the first upgrade can take 15 to 20 seconds for the same work. That said, the second upgrade, the "Jaws" Mortar, is much more effective as it also works automatically but will also automatically stop processing at a perfect rating without you needing to turn it off, leaving you free to do other tasks without the risk of ruining the mortar's work.

* There are a few in the ''VideoGame/{{GhostsNGoblins}}'' series. You'll often find yourself wishing you just had the basic lance which flies in a straight line.
** ''Ghosts 'N Goblins'' itself has:
*** The flaming torch. Flies in an arc making it difficult to aim and giving it a limited range. Its flame continues to burn where it lands which can kill enemies, but since you can only have two on the screen at once, you may have to wait for a flame to burn out before you can fire another one.
*** The shield, which is *required* to fight the already difficult bosses at the end of the game, OK it can stop enemy bullets, but has a very limited range.
** In ''Ghouls 'N Ghosts'':
*** The Axe, which flies at an odd angle and through enemies. The intent is presumably that you can kill more enemies behind the one you just hit. However, you can have only one on the screen at a time, so as soon as you meet an enemy that needs multiple hits, you'll find yourself extremely vulnerable, unable to throw a second one as you wait for it to fly off the screen.
*** The blue incendiary bomb. Like the torch from the first game, this flies in an (albeit shorter) arc, which causes you to throw it over the heads of enemies that are too close to you. It also has a very limited range, especially if there is no ground between you and your enemy.

** Due to [[ObviousBeta clumsy wording]], a strict reading of the Focused Lexicon feat (meant to make it harder for certain enemies to resist Truespeak) actually makes it harder for the ''user'' to use Truespeak against those enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': Due to the games' weapon generation system, every weapon you pick up can have variations in damage, elemental properties, special ammunition, etc. While this ensures a variety of different guns. When 90% of the weapons aren't worth using, the weapons you get as rewards for completing missions and such are often worse than the guns dropped by random mooks or found in dung and garbage piles. It's not at all uncommon for for a mission reward to be a worse weapon than something you found while completing it.

* The Mini Mushroom's status as one is acknowledged in ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', [[spoiler:with Mario getting beat up horribly by DK after mistaking it for a Super Mushroom. This trope is also exploited in the climax, where the heroes forcibly feed Bowser one in order to easily imprison him.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization V]]'', the Iroquois unique ability, ''The Great Warpath'' allows you to traverse between forests and jungles as if they were roads but that feature only works if you traverse through the forests and jungles, entering them still requires full movement points making this bonus virtually useless. Another downside is that forests do not really provide that much food for your own city thus making growth difficult. Their unique building, the longhouse also lacks the scaling production bonus effect in favor of a measly production bonus on forest tiles meaning that for the longhouse to work, you need to keep almost all of the forests alive meaning your cities will rarely grow tall. All in all, they are one of the few civilizations whose bonuses directly detriments the civilization growth. Compare the Celt's ''Druidic Lore'' ability which gives +1/+2 Faith per city near unimproved forests (which gives them an edge as a Religious Civ) and Brazil's unique "Brazilwood Camp" improvement, which gives a +2 Gold improvement on the Jungle tile (and +2 culture with acoustics as Brazilwood is used for instruments) while ''keeping the Jungle tile intact'' which gives the tile a total output of 2 Food, Science, Gold, and Culture.

* Unique Units in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' usually have a lot of bonuses over their standard counterparts, which then get lost when you research the techs from the next tier up. Even when they do keep the bonuses if they start as the unique unit and then upgrade, you also (usually) can't build your unique unit anymore once it becomes obsolete, so you have to keep a force of them alive for the whole game. For a perfect example, Poland in ''V'' has the Winged Hussar go from an all-around murderer with lightning movement to a specialized tank killer with less than half the speed, and the Zulu Impi loses its double-attack and anti-gunpowder abilities to become a bog-standard rifleman with whatever promotions it hopefully picked up.

* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** All games in the series have potions that provide temporary buffs like increased melee damage or granting resistance to elemental attacks. Unfortunately, all of them have extremely short durations, making them generally useless.
** The Shapeshifter specialization for Mages in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. It allows the caster to transform into different animal forms with unique attacks, which sounds fun on paper, but there are a couple problems: A) the casting time takes ten seconds; you are completely vulnerable and likely to be interrupted before you pull it off, and B) the attacks go off the Strength stat, which most mage players will neglect in favor of Willpower and Intellect, otherwise the mage's other spells will suffer. The spec was most likely inspired by the Druid class from ''World of Warcraft'', but the bear and cat forms in that game mimic the warrior and rogue classes respectively. The actual shapeshifting is instant and the forms give automatic boosts to the appropriate stats. None of that happens in ''Dragon Age'', however. The spec is so useless that neither Morrigan (the resident Shapeshifter) nor any mage you teach the spec to will actually use its abilities in combat unless you program them to do so. Even the game's AI thinks it's worthless.

** In Soulstorm, one upgrade of the Sisters of Battle allows Immolator flame tanks to spread flames around them in a circle. Most of the times this power is CoolButInefficient, and for those occasions where it is actually useful 1) perhaps you are surrounded by so many enemies that you are going to lose soon your expensive tank after you burnt the enemy morale, and 2) it's way cheaper and easier to just equip some Battle Sister Squads with flamethrowers (note that this point applies to the standard flame attack of the Immolator too: basically you'd buy this tank mostly for the melta upgrade that turns the primary attack into anti-tank, if you need it).

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'' In Last Stand mode advancing your characters can be problematic. Your Space Marine Captain just got Fearsome Shout! Hurray! Now do you want to give up your jump-pack, 75 hit-points or your only close combat ability for it? The Ork Mekboy's Deffgun is even worse... how about a gun that actually ''kills'' enemies instead of just suppressing them?